Encounters with Architecture Insights from a Hundred Places

PART ONE 1957–1975

Four shops, St. Johns Place, Brooklyn

Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn

Meadows, Catskill Mountains, New York

House, Levittown, Long Island

Small towns near New York City

Brooklyn Technical High School, Brooklyn, New York

Foundation Building, Cooper Union, New York

Library, Mount Angel Abbey, Oregon

Orchard Lane, Berkeley, California

London

La Tourette Monastery, Eveux-sur-l’Arbresle, France

Farmhouse, Tunisia

Roehampton housing estate, London

Arcaded streets, Bologna, Italy

PART TWO 1980–1985

House, Sierra Nevada, California

Christian Science Church, Berkeley, California

New York Public Library

West 47th Street, New York

Mosque of Rustem Pasa, Istanbul

Outdoor book market, Istanbul

Mount Athos, Greece

Little Singer Building, New York

Victoria and India streets, Edinburgh, Scotland

Byker Wall, Newcastle upon Tyne, England

House, open-air museum, Copenhagen

Washington Mews, New York

A neighborhood in Cairo

Kings Road House, West Hollywood, California

PART THREE 1986–1991

Knight Library, University of Oregon, Eugene

Red Fort, Delhi, India

Houses and streets, Jaisalmer, India

Mausoleum of Mahmud Begada, Sarkhej, Ahmedabad, India

Sarabhai House, Ahmedabad, India

Doges’ Palace, Venice

Wilhelm Pelster house-barn, Franklin County, Missouri

Public housing, Vienna

Karlsplatz Station, Vienna

Church and orphanage, Florence, Italy

Church of San Prassede, Rome

Cosmati pavements, Roman churches, Italy

Side of the road, India

Village house, near L’viv, Ukraine

PART FOUR 1992–1999

Passage des Panoramas, Paris

A slum, Madras (now Chennai), India

Temple of Athena Nike, Acropolis, Athens

Apartment terrace, Athens

Entsu-ji Temple, Kyoto

Daishen-in, Myoshinji, Kyoto

St. James Piccadilly, London

Apartment houses, New York

Inner Shrine, Ise, Mie Prefecture, Japan

Tung Pattana, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Al-Ghansour Caravanserai, Cairo, Egypt

Grand Central Terminal, New York

Tinngarden, Herfolge, Denmark

Pati, Patan, Nepal

Newari house, Patan, Nepal

Trapezoidal bricks, Kathmandu Valley, Nepal

PART FIVE 2000–2004

Chapel of St. Ignatius, Seattle

India International Centre, New Delhi

Court Gardener’s House, Potsdam, Germany

Shop/houses in New York

American Folk Art Museum, New York

Arnados, Tinos, Greece

Canal houses, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Seventeenth-century house interiors, the Netherlands

Town hall, Hilversum, the Netherlands

Artists’ houses and studios, Hammersmith, London

Seabird Island School, Agassiz, British Columbia, Canada

Scottish Poetry Library, Edinburgh

PART SIX 2006–2014

Equitable Building, Portland

St. Mark’s Church, Bjorkhagen, Stockholm

Cantonal library of Ticino, Lugano, Switzerland

Commercial extensions, London

Stolpersteine (stumbling stones), Hamburg, Germany

Housing project, Lindenstrasse, Berlin

Dunboyne Road housing, Camden, London

Gillett Square, Dalston, London

Thermal baths, Vals, Switzerland

Cathedral, Chartres, France

Piazza dei Signori, Vicenza, Italy

Swimming pool, Matosinhos, Portugal

Sao Bento Train Station, Porto, Portugal

PART SEVEN 2015–2024

Piazza della Madonna dei Monti, Rome

Winkley Estate, Bethnal Green, London

Myyrmaki Church, Vantaa, Finland

Town hall, Saynatsalo, Finland

Three spaces, Hvittrask, Kirkkonummi, Finland

Dining room, Aalto house, Helsinki, Finland

Tripotamos, Tinos, Greece

Everyman Theatre, Liverpool

Worship Street houses, London

Silkweavers’ work spaces, Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, India

Karappankadu, Tamil Nadu, India

Castelvecchio, Verona

Hedmark Museum, Hamar, Norway

Place du Tertre, Montmartre, Paris

Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center, New York

Experimental project, Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico

Avenida Paulista, Sao Paulo, Brazil

Biography

Howard Davis is Professor Emeritus of Architecture at the University of Oregon, where his specialty is issues of culture and place in buildings and cities. He is the author of The Culture of Building, Living Over the Store, and Working Cities, and the co-author, with Christopher Alexander and others, of The Production of Houses. Davis is a Distinguished Professor of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture and winner of the Herman Award at the University of Oregon. His travels in over fifty countries are the basis for the writing and photography in this book.

"'Encounters' is an innovative narrative that weaves together a personal memoir, an understanding of architectural history, and a flaneur’s pure joy - all alongside an impressive photographic archive." 

ALVIN COMITER, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Photographer

"Howard Davis, through his personal reflections and sumptuous illustrations, invites the reader to share with him his diverse encounters with buildings and spaces across the world. There is a generosity and attention to detail in this publication, that is often missing or misunderstood in contemporary accounts of architectural form and composition. Each entry really is an encounter."

SIAN THERESE, Cambridgeshire, UK, Artist and archaeologist

"The writing is gorgeous, clear and engaging. It's like a book of short stories, no need to read it in any particular order. Feels very honest and from the heart. And the pictures!!! So many and so beautiful- the whole design is beautiful."

FRANCES HOLLISS, Brighton, UK, Architect, writer and artist

"The design of the book is unique and very engaging, I really appreciated the personal aspects of the writing and the observations were insightful and engaging.  Few architecture books are like that, this one is special in that regard."  

JERRY FINROW, Portland, OR, Architect and former dean of two schools of architecture

"What a beautiful work. The sheer range of places  is jaw-dropping to me, especially because these are not case studies of famous or even semi-famous buildings in most cases. The elegant brevity of the essays makes them very readable - and means the book is very easy to dip into."  

SAM GRIFFITHS, London, Faculty, Bartlett School of Architecture

"My colleagues and I are always glad when Professor Howard Davis comes to visit, as he brings with him new insights into the social significance of London's architecture. Now I have the joy of reading about some of his encounters with architecture, via his latest book which contains 100 beautifully illustrated vignettes of everyday places around the world, ranging from Brooklyn, La Tourette Monastery in France, Istanbul, Copenhagen, Delhi, and beyond."

LAURA VAUGHAN, London, Faculty, Bartlett School of Architecture

"The format is wonderful, and I can jump in and around when I feel like it.  What also strikes me is what a beautiful book it is visually - the photographs are wonderful and they really come across." 

PETER KEYES, Seattle, Architect and retired teacher of architecture

"One of my favorite music groups is Rush. Their drummer was their lyricist and an author. He wrote a book, "Traveling Music: Playing Back the Soundtrack to My Life and Times” --and I loved how it reflected the music that influenced him in his life. I often think about the music that was and has been the soundtrack of my life. I see this book as the building and architectural equivalent for Howard Davis." 

JEREMY SMITH, Eugene, OR, Computer expert and member of art faculty

"What a lovely book! It is written with a care and humanity that exactly matches those qualities that you celebrate in these places, this architecture."

MALCOLM FRASER, Edinburgh, Architect